British Railways steam
Fairburn 2-6-4T 42198, built in 1948 and withdrawn from 10A Carnforth in August 1965, is depicted here near Largs.

British Railways steam
Fairburn 2-6-4T 42196, built in 1948 and withdrawn from 56F Low Moor(Bradford) in May 1967, is depicted here at an unspecified location which Jim Mitchell believes is almost certainly Lochgreen Junction between Troon and Prestwick.

British Railways steam
We'll never find out the date of this picture but perhaps someone recognises the location somewhere in Scotland. I love this shot of BR Standard 5MT 73008 because of its symmetry. 73008 was built at Deby in 1955 and was withdrawn from 61B Aberdeen Ferryhill shed in September 1965.

British Railways steam
Steam engines in the west of Scotland were generally maintained to a presentable external standard but this BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T is too grubby for identification as it storms away from Gourock.

British Railways steam
This lovely shot os BR Standard Britannia pacific 70039 Sir Christopher Wren was taken in late evening sunshine at the end of August 1964 as it storms southwards into the erstwhile station at Forteviot. 70039 was a 12A Kingmoor engine built at Crewe in 1953 and withdrawn in September 1967. Perhaps a pundit has knowledge of the 1X45 excursion number chalked on the smokebox door.

British Railways diesel
An unidentified BRCW Sulzer class 26 Bo-Bo diesel at Georgemas.

British Railways diesel
An unidentified BRCW Sulzer class 26 Bo-Bo diesel at Thurso in June 1972.

British Railways diesel
BRCW Sulzer class 26 Bo-Bo diesel 26023 at windswept Achnasheen in June 1978.

British Railways diesel
BRCW Sulzer class 26 Bo-Bo diesel 26041 in wild Highland territory at Achnasheen in June 1978.

British Railways steam
The delightful and uncommon sight taken in May 1951 of Peppercorn A1 pacific 60161 North British in BR blue livery backing thourh Pronces Street Gardens on the way to Waverley station. 60161 was new in 1949 and was withdrawn from 64A St.Margarets in October 1963. What a waste!

British Railways electric
The first 2-EPB electric units arrived not on the Southern as many believe but for use on the Tyneside electric services. as early as 1954 They were somewhat different in appearance from their later BR(S) counterparts with an obviously larger guard's compartment amongst several design differences. They all subsequently migrated to the Southern. Thius shot is slightly unsharp and was taken at Newcastle in stygian gloom on an unknown date.

British Railways steam
This remarkably versatile design originated with Wilson Worsdell way back in 1898 on the North Eastern Railway. This example of the same J72 0-6-0T class, 69028, was built as late as 1951 at darlington and had a short career of only 13 years being withdrawn from 52A Gateshead shed in October 1964. The date of this shot is 1963/4 but the the location isn't known.

British Railways steam
A visit to Stratford works in 1949 elicited this view of a B1's schizoid tender with both the new British Railways legend and LNER clearly evident with, apparently, little effort having been made to obliterate the latter.

British Railways diesel
Deltic 55012 Crepello at Stevenage on the inaugural 07.45 Kings Cross - Edinburgh 'Silver Jubilee' Monday 8 June 1977.
Photo by Alan Vacani.

British Railways steam
The German style smoke deflectors and Kylchap exhaust are the reasons why this shot of an old LNER design is included in a set of purely BR oriented images. The occasion was a Gresley Society special, the London - North Eastern Flyer, on May 2nd 1964 which did, indeed, fly as noted on the sixbells juntion web site which informs us that the depicted engine. Gresley A3 pacific 60106 Flying Fox, attained 95 mph on the descent of Stoke bank during the return journey. I was a passenger on this trip and I recall the buzz of anticipatation at the time as we started the climb from Grantham. The depicted scene shows 60106 taking on water at Peterborough North station during the outward leg to Doncaster from King's Cross and it places 60106 very near home as she was shedded at 34E New England at the time. After a distinguished career of 41 years she was withdrawn only seven months after this picture was taken.

British Railways steam
York on August 19th 1963 and BR Standard 3MT mogul 77013 reverses past the photographer. 77013 had a short lifespan of only 12 years being built at Swindpn in 1954 and withdrawn from 55B Stourton mpd in March 1966.

British Railways diesel
Class 47 diesel 47087 Cyclops in BR corporate blue livery at Banbury on May 22nd 1982.

British Railways diesel
Dave Sallery has kindly e-mailed me to say that this was taken on the up line between Prestatyn and Talacre, just passing Gronant. The slide mount ststes merelt that it was taken in August 1984.

British Railways steam
An undated view (circa 1961) of Riddles designed BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 73052 entering Shepton Mallet (Charlton Road) station on the good ol' Somerset & Dorset albeit firmly in BR(W) grasp by this time. The shot seems to have been taken from the lee of the superb stone built signal box that was sited almost on the platform. Nice to see all those cyclists across the way there. The train is a three coach local. 73052 was another loco with a short lifespan being built at Derby in 1954 and then withdrawn a paltry ten years later from 82F Bath Green Park shed in 1964.

British Railways steam
This could well be the most interesting shot in this set of images and even failing that the caption could compensate. The occasion was the SCTS sponsored South Western Rambler railtour which ran on March 8th 1964 via a convoluted route from and to Waterloo and with unusal motive power. This - and the next shot - were given to me recently by a passenger on that train with both having been taken on the ubiquitous Brownie 127 camera warts and all. One had to be lucky with those cameras as the image quality varied considerably from lens to lens with this one displaying distinctly larger than usual lack of edge sharpness which has largely been cropped out. BR Standard Britannia pacific 70020 Mercury is seen here at the unlikely of Ludgershall station on former MSWJR metals but which had closed to passengers some three years before this picture was taken. 70020, a 1A Willesden based loco at the time, had worked through from Waterloo and I had photographed this train from the lineside at Barnes nearly three hours earlier. 70020 then hauled the train back as far as Salisbury where 9F 92209 took over but more of that anon. Mercury survived in service until her January 1967 withdrawal from 12A Kingmoor shed.

British Railways steam
The SCTS sponsored South Western Rambler railtour which ran on March 8th 1964 had been hauled back to Salisbury from Ludgershall by Brit 70020. The train then retraced that stretch of track behind BR Standard 9F 92209 - 82F Bath Green Park shed based - as far as Templecombe where the stock was reversed up to Templecombe No. 2 Junction behind 0-6-0PT 4634. 92209 then ambled down the S&D to Hamworthy with the train but stopped en route at Blandford Forum for liquid refreshment as seen in this picture. There are several points to note in this shot. All collectables had been removed from the smokebox door and the unusual Blandford signal box can be seen peeping over the roofs of the rolling stock. 92209 survived until December 1965 at the same shed.

British Railways steam
A BR-built modified Collett designed Hall class 4-6-0 sweeps around the curve at Hatton North junction in this undated view.

British Railways steam
In retrospect it's incredible that we in Britain were still building new locos in 1950 that were essentially a Churchward design dating back to 1906 albeit enhanced somewhat by Collett. Seen here in superb external condition at Kemble is 1950-built Castle class 4-6-0 7035 Ogmore Castle.

British Railways steam
If nothing else you get variety with my material!
It's Dovey Juncion station of course but the date is something of a mystery but is either early 1955 or late 1954. Floods there have always been commonplace but it's foruitous that my late brother, an accomplished photographer, was there to record quite a lot of activity on this occasion. This shot features Darlington-built Standard 2MT mogul 78006 in decidedly grubby condition sporting the Cambrian Coast Express headboard whilst taking a paddle in the lake provided by Mother Nature.

British Railways steam
Hawksworth designed 0-6-0PT 8403 in ex-works condition at an unknown location although I suspect that it's 81A Old Oak Common shed. 8403 was very much a BR engine entering revenue earning service in September 1949 and being withdrawn a paltry 16 years later from 82E Bristol Barrow Road mpd.

British Railways diesel
A Bulleid design but built in 1949 is this 1-Co-Co-1 diesel electric loco number 10201 photographed near Kenton but the date isn't known. However, the livery (seemingly ex-works) is BR passenger lined green with the later logo which suggests that it's 1957 or later. Mention is made in a web article that when this livery was first applied the roof was painted primrose yellow but there's no evidence of that here and so it must be a later repaint than that.

British Railways diesel
This is the original experimental A.C.V./B.U.T. diesel mechanical railbus which by this time, 1955, had received lined green livery having originally been painted in an attractive two tone grey . Several viewers have pointed out that the unit is depicted at St. Albans Abbey station with the town gas works at the right hand side of the image and that the railbus was working on the route from Watford.
John Isherwood prompted me to investigate this subject which elicited coverage of the units' history in this web site.
Brian Easter has put some flesh on the bones regarding the locale: The signals at the end of the platform indicate two routes, the left hand arm for the line to Hatfield, closed in the 60s (note, I think it closed to passengers in 1951) and the right hand arm for Watford. This line is now electrified and a class 313 EMU now provides the service.

British Railways steam
Gresley A3 pacific 60097 Humorist was a bit of an oddball in that she was the testbed for experiments with Kylchap exhaust, double chimney and smoke deflectors as far back as 1937. However, the condition in which she's depicted here is purely BR in origin as she was fitted with Peppercorn A2 style smoke deflectors in 1949 but it would be nearly a decade before many of the other A3's would be enhanced with double chimneys and a very different style of deflectors. This shot was taken at Carlisle canal shed in 1963 and one suspects that she had already reached the end of her operational days as she was officially withdrawn from 64A St. Margaret's in August of that year.

British Railways steam
This is more about the location than the stock. An unidentifiable BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0 awaits departure from Hope & Penyffordd station on the Chester - Denbigh line probably just prior to the ex-LNWR station's closure on 30/4/62.

British Railways steam
Attributed to Fowler but with a liberal dose of Stanier on board Royal Scot class 4-6-0 46106 Gordon Highlander was unique within the class as it wore BR Standard style smoke deflectors (hence the image's inclusion in this BR set) instead of the usual contoured style. here we see her in an undated view traversing Dillicar water troughs. Note the Stanier and Gresley coaches within a consist of otherwise BR Mk I's.

British Railways steam
Built at Swindon works as late as 1952, Ivatt Mickey Mouse mogul 46504 lasted until 1966 when she was withdrawn from 9D Newton Heath(Manchester) shed. There was no data with this negative but I think the location is Bristol (Barrow Road) mpd. Corrections welcomed.

British Railways steam
46421 was one of the Crewe-built Ivatt Mickey Mouse 2-6-0's, entered service in 1948 and was withdrawn from 2E Saltley(Birmingham) mpd in 1966. This shot features what seems to be a little photographed SLS railtour from 2/11/63 called Last Train on the Harborne Branch which was captured on film here at the rarely photographed location of Longbridge.

British Railways steam
A Flying Pig!!! Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 43043 at Darlington in the early summer of 1960. 43043 was built at Horwich in 1949 and was withdrawn from 55E Normanton shed in 1967.

British Railways steam
A foruitous find on Ebay and cheap as chips as well. Riddles Britannia pacific 70021 Morning Star was snapped at 21E (Monument Lane (Birmingham) on July 24th, 1961. As this was one of the BR(W) allocated Brits I was surprised to note that it doesn't have the Swindon style of modified smoke deflectors with handholds inset but perhaps it was transferred to to Midland Region prior to those enhancements. 70021 was built in 1951 at Crewe works and lasted until withdrawal from 12A Carlisle Kingmoor shed in December 1967.

British Railways steam
Riddles Britannia pacific 70043 Lord Kitchener emanated from Crewe works in June 1953 and had a short lifespan of only 12 years being withdrawn from 5B Crewe South mpd in 1965. This undocumented view was taken in the middle of 1961 looking north at Great Barr with the signalbox just in shot and the Hamstead Colliery sidings dead ahead whilst the road overbridge is immediately behind the photographer.
Mike Barnsley adds that the loco would appear to be going north, away from Aston towards Walsall.

British Railways steam
Riddles' smaller class of pacifics was the 72xxx Clan class of 6P's. Here we see a splendid portrait of 72005 Clan Macgregor at 12A Carlisle Kingmoor taken by the late Bill Potter. 72005 was bult in 1952 and withdrawn from 12A in May 1965.

British Railways steam
Still with us into the geritage era is Riddles Standard 4MT 2-6-4T 80098 depicted here, according to the only note, west of Welshpool but undated. 80098 was built at Brighton in 1954 and had a tragically short revenue earning career being withdrawn from 6F Machynlleth shed in July 1965. The two Brake seconds are clearly of Stanier origin but the middle coach looks to me to be Hawksworth which would be an odd combination.

British Railways steam
The best that can be said about this shot is that it exemplifies the look of power that the Standard 9F 2-10-0's engendered. 92051, depicted here about to pass Saltley carriage sidings on the way to Saltley shed, was built at Crewe works and entered service in September 1955 with withdrawl coming a paltry 12 years later from 12A Kingmoor in October 1967.

British Railways steam
This grainy colour shot is included here becuase it was taken on London Transport metals at Rickmansworth which was, of course, also Great Central territory. The loco is unidentifiable but is a Standard 5MT 4-6-0 in execrable condition whilst the train was, if I remember rightly, the 1438 Marylebone to Nottingham service on one of the last Saturdays of steam on the GCR.

British Railways diesel
Nearly all the colour material I own is reasonably well documented but this is an exception. Many viewers have pointed out that this was taken at Fishguard harbour whilst Rog Geach with the help of a very detailed scan of the number has concluded that the Brush Type 4 diesel loco is almost certainly Cardiff Canton's 47232. Other aspects of the image's contents suggest to him that the shot was taken during the Summer 1976 timetable period.

British Railways steam
The LCGB sponsored A2 Commemorative Railtour ran on August 14th, 1966 and Peppercorn A2 60532 Blue Peter had tyravelled south from her home shed of 61B Aberdeen Ferryhill for the event. Here we see the special awaiting departure from Salisbury on the outward leg from Waterloo. I didn't see this trip myself as, ironically, I was on a Scottish holiday at the time.

British Railways steam
Bulleid West Country pacific 34016 Bodmin is still with us today and is included in this BR set of images because of the rebuilding of members of this class into conventional locomotives in BR days. 34016 was built in Southern days, 1945, at Brighton works, was rebuilt in 1958 and withdrawn from 70D Eastleigh mpd in 1965. The other aspect of this shot which is pure BR is the name Man of Kent which plied its trade between Charing Cross and Dover from 1954 until electrification brought an end to the service. This shot was taken at London bridge station as 34016 neared the end of this particular journey.

British Railways diesel
This powerful shot of an HST was taken from public footpath near Chandler's Ford station on All Fools Day 1995. The train is heading southwards towards Eastleigh.

British Railways electric
The bitter winter of 1962/3 had barely begun when this shot was taken from King's Lane bridge near Sutton the day after the first major fall of snow. Indeed, it was still snopwing when the picture was taken. This pair of 4-EPB's with headcode 06 has just left Sutton en route for West Croydon having dawdled along its circuitous route from Holborn Viaduct.

British Railways steam
Bulleid light pacific 34089 602 Squadron is depicted here between Wallington and Carshalton beeches whilst in charge of the SCTS sponsored Surrey Rambler railtour on June 5th, 1966. 34089 was, in every sense, a BR engine as she was built in 1948 at Brighton and was one of the last to be rebuilt into the condition shown her in November 1960. She survived until the end of SR steam in July 1967.

British Railways steam
Bulleid's Leader 0-6-6-0 36001 being shunted by the works' own Stroudley terrier DS377 outside Brighton works for the benefit of the attending photographers.

British Railways steam
In my experience light engine workings through Wimbledon during evenings and weekends were thin on the ground but here we see just such a working in the form of Standard 3MT 2-6-2T 82028 which a Swindon product from 1954 and which was withdrawn from 70A Nine Elms shed in September 1966 the year that this shot was taken. Perhaps this was the last hurrah. Note the solitary tower block on the horizon and the extent of the goods yards in the background.

British Railways steam
76063, a Standard 4MT mogul, had a tragically short working life having been built at Doncaster in 1956 and being withdrawn from 70D Eastleigh shed in April 1967. The image depicts an up fitted goods train taken in lowering light at Wimbledon 'C' box in 1966.

British Railways steam
The LCGB sponsored 'Surrey Downsman' railtour ran on March 5th, 1967 and used four engines during its meanderings. The final - but not the only - leg was hauled by BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 75077 from London Bridge to Victoria via Denmark Hill where this shot was taken. 75077, note the home crafted smokebox number plate, was built at Swindon in 1955 and lasted until the end of SR steam in July 1967.

British Railways steam
July 5th 1964 saw the running of the LCGB's 'Surrey Wanderer' railtour which was really an excuse for the swansong of the Drummond M7 class as 30053 was used for parts of the trip. However, arguably of equal interest was the unusual use of Standard 2MT mogul 78038 for other legs of the tour and here we see her just a few yards short of Waddon Marsh Halt on the leg from Wimbledon to West Croydon where she reversed and then hauled the participants to Epsom Downs and back. 78038 was a Darlington works product from 1954 and was withdrawn from 6D Shrewsbury mpd in August 1966 although I seem to remember that she was a Willesden engine when this shot was taken.

British Railways electric
I have to confess to ignorance when it comes to describing BR built SR multiple units with corridor ends but I'm assured that we're looking here at a 4-CEP unit, later class 411, coupled to a 4_CIG at the rear approaching King's Lane road bridge at Sutton in the spring of 1971. The sight of main line units at this location was unusual as their normal route on the Bognor/Portsmouth - Victoria workings was via Carshalton and Mitcham Junction. This and other consecutive weekends saw major engineeering works on that line and so they were diverted via West Croydon.